The Merkel Pictures
Add Your Photos!
Many thanks to Mark Brandvold for this charming piece of history. It shows his great-grandfather of Idaho, USA astride a Merkel.
THAT IS AN EARLY MERKEL, PRODUCED IN MILWAUKEE, WI. JOSEPH MERKEL STARTED OUT THERE AROUND 1903. HE THEN BOUGHT THE LIGHT MOTOR CO OF POTTSTOWN, PA, THE COMPANY THEN BECAME THE MERKEL-LIGHT MOTOR CO. THEY WERE BOUGHT BY THE MIAMI CYCLE & MFG CO OF MIDDLETOWN, OH IN 1911. PRODUCTION WAS TRANSFERED TO MIDDLETOWN, AND AFTER A HUGE ADDITION TO THE FACTORY WAS BUILT IN 1912, FOCUSED ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE FAMOUS “FLYING MERKEL”. THE FLYING MERKEL WAS PRODUCED UNTIL ABOUT 1916, WHEN THE UN-AVAILABILITY OF THE GERMAN BEARINGS USED IN THEIR MOTORS STOPPED PRODUCTION DURING WWI. PRODUCTION WAS NOT RESUMED AFTER THE WAR, ALTHOUGH THEY BUILT BICYCLES UNTIL 1923.